According to the Guardian this morning:
Lord Browne, the government's lead business adviser to the civil serviceand former BP chairman, will call for a royal commission into the civil service on Thursday, saying its structures, processes and lines of accountability are outdated.
I think there are much better lines of inquiry. First, why has BP done so much harm to the environment?
Second, why did BP get its Russian activities so wrong?
Third, why has BP worked so hard and for so long to create opacity in the extractive industries?
Fourth, why does BP oppose country-by-country reporting?
Fifth, why is its record on alternative energy so poor?
I could go on? But my point is a simple one: BP is a poorly run company whether operationally or financially that has sought to preserve its position by blunt opposition, the use of its power and a desire for opacity. It has failed to innovate. These are not qualities I want the civil service to copy.
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While there were historically always problems at the top in Multinational oil companies the degree of venality you refer to ( I agree) is a modern phenomenon and largely attributable to the reward systems for very senior executives. The benefits accruing for compliance and to those who fiddle the performance figures are huge. This applies throughout management tiers as the carrot of riches available is too big for many to ignore. This affects behaviour and decision-making and to a culture in which whistle-blowing ( or even just disagreeing with policy of decisions) is counter-productive. Don’t rock the gravy train or you’ll be pushed off it.
Almost certainly a pre-cursor to a campaign completely to neuter the Civil Service, by draining it of the last vestiges of “disinterested thinking and action in the interest of the common good”.
And to implement all this? Lord Browne, head of BP – otherwise known as “Fred Kano’s Army”!
Quite right, Andrew, as with feudalism the neo-feudal state will not function smoothly if there are people at its core prepared to think and act in the interests of the common good. Consequently, the last vestiges of such a system have to be removed. And Lord Browne – an engineer who unlike many other engineers appears to have failed to realise that humans aren’t machines, and organisations are more than structure and function diagrams – is just the stooge to champion it.
By the way, thanks for pointing me to the generations in history theory. Interesting and convincingly argued stuff. A beacon of hope if true.
Ivan, would that be the Strauss-Howe generational theory?
Anthony. Yes, the Strauss-Howe theory.
Then that would mean, we are entering the crisis phase, no? 🙁
Why don’t we have a Royal Commission report into the failure of our “big businesses”? With regard to the art of creating worthwhile and rewarding jobs in the UK. “Big Business” appears to have the same “gift” here as a Giant Panda has for procreation.
I think all readers will be familiar with the euphemism of “modernisation”.
I’ll not hold my breath for a Damascian journey to illumination.
Most will be able to have a good stab at the conclusion of this report and the outcome.
The “Moonie” cult that have infiltrated government are intent on reducing its size and potency to the joy of our cartwheeling crooks in the City of London”.
In short we’ll have more privatisation through parasitisation.
Excellent idea
Not sure how you think BP got it wrong in Russia – they survived for the longest time of a major in an oil JV with legacy oligarchs. They recovered their position from the 90s when they were asset stripped by their partners. They sold out when all other alternatives were closed and for a very good price.
Given that the government’s chief operating officer let slip recently that the government is spending around £6,000 per year on each computer it has, it does seem like there is some scope for its structures, processes and lines of accountability to be improved.
If you valued the time input into many computers you’d find the figure rather low